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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Can somebody please tell me where this month went?! I feel like it has just flown by. I can't believe tomorrow is May already.

So I wanted to revisit my April goals. I have to say I'm a little disappointed in myself. I thought I would do much better.

1.Interval training 3x a week. Oh gosh this was bad. I think I did interval training the first week and then I pulled a muscle in my leg and pretty much all running went out the window then. I kept walking and did a pretty good amount of that, but running and especially interval training was just bad!2. Finish 2 books.This one was okay. Not bad but I didn't quite complete it. I did read Room which I will be reviewing shortly and I also read about half of The River of No Return which I'm pretty sure I'll also be reviewing maybe in June?! But this was definitely one of the goals I did better at.3. Drink 1500mL of water each day. Another bad, bad attempt at the goal. I totaled up my water drinking for the month... it was 12,508mL, which if we made that into a percent would be about 28%. Fail.4. Enjoy the weather. I tried to enjoy the weather as much as possible, but a few days when it was nice and pretty I sat inside to read or just did things inside rather than being outside. I could have leaned this one more towards green, but I just felt I didn't take advantage of the nice weather as much as I could have.

So I'm going to try again for May. Most of my goals are very similar, but I want to try to do better this month. So here they are.

1. Drink 1000mL of water each day. Maybe I'll be better at 1000 mL2. Run 50 miles this month. I'll talk more about this later tomorrow.3. Find something happy in each day.4. Read 2 books this month. I'm starting to read more with one of my best friends, we've kinda made our own book club, so I think I can read 2 this month.5. Use MyFitnessPal everyday. I really want to see a difference in my health and fitness this month and I think if I stay strict to using the app I'll do better with my health goals.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Being healthy has always been something I strive to achieve. Although I'm always working towards it, health has been like a roller coaster ride for me. I can be going full steam ahead and then somehow it takes a turn and I'm gaining weight and it's not looking so hot as far as health goes.

Four years ago I was around the heaviest I've ever been. I didn't know what I was doing wrong. I walked about 18 miles each week to make myself more active. I started using a calorie counter to make sure I was eating reasonable well and not over eating. After a month of walking more and watching what I eat, I was still gaining weight.

I was weighing nearly 180 pounds. That was not acceptable but I didn't know what to do about it. Finally I went to the doctor and found out I had hypothyroidism. I started taking Synthroid and within 2 months I was back down to 160, but that still was 30 pounds over weight.

Over the past 2 years I've worked to get down to my goal weight of about 130. I was not there yet, but I took a break over the holidays and winter weather days and my work started going out the window. If you've been around here for a while now, you know that I got a FitBit for Christmas and I've been trying very hard to walk a good amount each day.

Left was February 2011; Right April 2013

Recently I also figured out that I can sync my Fitbit tracker with MyFitnessPal! Talk about one happy gal. I was so happy when I found this out because I thought this might actually be the motivation I need to get my rear end in gear to not only lose the extra 10 pound I've put on this winter, but also get down to my goal of 130.

--If you are on MyFitnessPal please come find me! I always love motivation.

I've been tracking my food and being more active for a week and a half now. Thus far I've lost 1.5 pounds. That is certainly a step in the right direction. I am very happy with my progress. I plan on trying to do an update at the end of each month to keep myself accountable. And for the record, by my birthday (mid-July) I want to be breaking into the 130s - 139 will be fine.

I hope y'all will stick with me on my journey to becoming the healthy and fit person I want to be.

Monday, April 28, 2014

I don't know what happened to me and keeping track of my health per se, but I have been doing a not-so-good job of it within the past few months. One day I stepped on the scale and I am 10 pounds heavier. That is just not acceptable. I had worked hard to get where I was and I'm not going to put the extra weight back on.

Lately I've been trying to stay active by walking and running. But I had been in somewhat desperate need for new running shoes. My closet is full of shoes with about 10% of them being athletic shoes. Sounds like I really needed them right?! But the fact is, I hadn't gotten a new pair of running shoes in almost 5 years. I've put a lot of miles on the shoes I have. So I did kind of need a new pair.

Luckily when I was down in Charleston, I found some super cute Under Armour shoes that were on sale. Cute and a sale... What could be better?! Oh also John bought them for me. Cherry on top, y'all!

So as I said before, these shoes were on sale at the Under Armour outlet in Charleston. But they have been extremely wonderful running shoes with the minor exception of breaking them in by getting blisters on my heels the first time I wore them.

After breaking them in, they are everything I need in a running shoe. Although my old Nike's were the most comfortable things in the world, they were a bit clunky. But no longer do I have to worry about my feet being weighed down. These puppies feel like I'm wearing nothing. They are incredibly light and I love how they feel.

I tried to take notice of what I loved about them while I was running. Besides feeling like my feet are weightless, they also get great breath-ability. I'm pretty sure that's not a word, but it needs to be. The top part is a mesh-like material which allows air flow in the shoe. I don't recall any of my other shoes allowing my feet to actually feel the fresh air. It's a very cool new experience.

All around I love the support I get with these shoes. I do believe they have been the best gift John has given me thus far. I am so in love with them.

I also wanted to invite y'all to stop back in tomorrow because I'll be talking about how I'm trying to lose this weight I've magically gained.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Have you ever had a special day coming up and you totally forgot it?! I had that happen this month. Let me rewind a little and explain what I mean.

Me, Bo and Christy

Christy was my dog I got for Christmas in 2007 (hence her name being Christy). We had been wanting to breed Shelties for a little bit so when she turned 2 we figured it was a good time.**

Bo is Christy's first puppy, born April 11, 2009. She had 5 actually. They mostly all got named from the Dukes of Hazzard. Bo, Luke, Daisy, Jesse and then the fifth little puppy was a girl and I didn't know of any other girl DoH names so she got named Hot Lips (like from MASH) but was later changed to Lady. Much more appropriate I think.

Daisy, Bo, Jesse, Lady and Luke

One by one the puppies got taken to wonderful caring homes. For some reason nobody wanted Bo. He was the most laid back puppy out of all of them. He loved to be held unlike all the others. I didn't understand why nobody wanted him. He was so sweet.

When Bo was a puppy, he looked so much like a little Saint Bernard. Although I don't see it much now, I thought he did when he was first born. So his official AKC name is Saint Bo. But he's just Bo or BoBo to us.

While I was at the beach I remembered Bo was born in April but I had no clue what day. I knew I was home from college, but I couldn't remember what weekend. Bad puppy Mama! When I got back from the beach, I knew I had to look up his birthday. April 11th and I missed it. I can't believe I did that.

Happy {2 weeks late} birthday Saint Bo. I'm sure you didn't care I missed it, you just enjoy all the lovings you get.

**I know many people like to rescue dogs but my family really wanted to have the experience of bringing cute little Sheltie puppies into the world

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

When I read on Mal's blog about a link up for military significant others I initially wanted to participate for sure. Life got a little busy and I completely forgot about the link up until this morning when my feed was full of other ladies linking up.

After reading so many lovely wives posts I didn't think I was entitled to my opinion. John and I aren't married and I haven't had to be fully embrace military life yet. But with that said, I always jump at the chance to make new friends that have things in common with me especially if I can learn from them.

Let's go back a little over two years. I am in college starting to celebrate because my senior year is almost over! My college is having this huge spring festival and I'm getting all geared up to play some volleyball in the mud and spend my night listening to Justin Moore. Except there is a turn of events that changes the whole ballgame. I meet this handsome guy and we hit it off immediately. John and I ended up spending the whole weekend together. Then Sunday evening comes and back off to Charleston he must go. He's not a college student from down the road, he's an Airman. {I feel like that should be said as if he were superman -- or maybe only in my head}

I had a previous relationship with a guy in the military. I wasn't anxious to jump into another one. I didn't know when I would see John again or how we could make it work, but I was willing to give it a try. He actually surprised me by coming back up the next weekend. I knew I had a keeper then.

For the whole two years John and I have been together he has been stationed in Charleston, South Carolina while I've been in Virginia. The distance has been one of the most difficult parts of our relationship thus far. Luckily he hasn't been relocated to anywhere further away and as far as I know PCSing isn't in the immediate future either.

I have yet to encounter all the joys of being a military wife but I've had the chance to get my feet a little wet. One of the first and foremost topics of military SOs on my mind is accepting the military life. As a future Air Force wife, I sometimes have trouble knowing that I won't always be able to come first in John's life. There will always be changes coming and things I may not agree with. Just in the two years we've been together I feel like I've gotten better with going with the flow. I now realize that if I dislike something, it won't matter because within the year it will most likely change anyway.

The one thing that doesn't matter about relationship status is my pride for John. I don't think I could be more proud of him. I love showing my support for him and his career choice. One event I look forward to each year is the Air Force Ball. While I was there I noticed one thing that annoyed me to no end. I hated seeing wives at the ball that made it seem like getting a root canal was more fun. I am not sure if they thought they were better than John and I because their husband had been in the service longer with a higher rank or they were just plain bored out of their mind. But I know one thing for sure is that no matter how long John stays in the Air Force or the number of formal events we go to, I will always have pride for him, the country we love and stand beside him with a genuine smile on my face.

Although this might not be how I imagined my life to end up, I wouldn't dare dream it any other way now. I am looking forward to the journey ahead of John and I and can't wait to see where we end up along the way.

My favorite makeup item is.. probably my beauty sponge (the beauty blender dupe) I haven't been putting foundation on a lot lately, but when I do put it on this little bugger is amazing at making my foundation look flawless.

The best book I’ve ever read was ____ because… One For the Money because it showed me that reading can be fun. Honestly, reading for fun was not a part of my life before this book. I'd read The Five People You Meet in Heaven and really enjoyed it but hadn't really had any pleasure reads until Janet Evanovich's fun Stephanie Plum series.

My favorite TV show is… currently The Dukes of Hazzard. This is a really tough one to finish because I love so many TV shows. But I have to say currently I'm loving me some Bo and Luke Duke. AND wishing I could strut my stuff like Daisy.

Monday, April 21, 2014

This past weekend at the beach has been very interesting. It's been cold, slightly raining and full of interesting detours. Who knew coming in the off season could be so different.

Okay so I expected the cold and raining but what I wasn't expecting was so much construction. We've been down in the off season plenty of times but there has never been so much roadwork.

My families condo is in North Myrtle Beach for those of y'all who are familiar with the area. Well for those of you who don't know, NMB has a problem with roads flooding when it rains a little too much. So apparently the city decided to start working on it currently. They are installing newer bigger drainage pipes under many of the roads near our condo.

I usually run along a road a block back from Ocean Boulevard because there are nice sidewalks and much less traffic, but this time I was sorely disappointed with my running trail.

That small body of water there... yeah, that's usually not there. That used to be compete woods. But not anymore. I guess when I come back in the summer we will see how my running trail looks. Maybe eventually it will get back to normal.

By the way this is what normal used to look like. Thanks Google Maps because I never knew I needed a picture of this area before!

Oh well, hopefully the drainage system will work now.

PS besides cold weather, the beach wasn't that bad. I did wiggle my toes in the sand, but no miniature golf this time. It's a tradition to play with John and I didn't want to break that tradition.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

I had really wanted John to participate in the Boys Behind the Blog posts today. I was anxious to see his answers but things were really busy with him. So instead this post is turning into the really supportive post about John because he takes the test for Staff Sergeant today.

He has been studying for quite a while and we are both praying that he can make it his first try. It would be such a blessing if he can pass this time. Even though it will be about a year for him to sew on since he's a "baby tester". I'm so excited for him though. I really hope he can just focus and do very well.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

My favorite vacation spot is... where I'm currently sitting, which would be Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

If I won a million dollars I would… go back to school, donate some to research, buy a house and save it for my children's school. Oddly enough, John and I talked about this one time as we were driving down to Alabama since a Lambo drove past us.

If I could go on a date with ONE celebrity, it would be… Matt Damon hands down. John already knows that I would go on a date with him. He often jokes about it.

If I found a genie in a bottle, my three wishes would be… to have a happy loving marriage with John, to be successful yet humble in my career and world peace?! Haha I never really thought of three things I really wanted.

My favorite clothing item is… hmm, this one is hard because I really don't know. Are we talking like specific piece or just a general item?! I'm going to go with general terms and say all of my fancy dresses that I don't get to wear that often. They are just my favorites and I love dressing up.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Today marks 2 years that I've been with my loving man. Two years ago today we were singing along to Justin Moore, starting this amazing relationship. I can't believe how far we've come and am looking forward to everything that's coming. I'm so glad I get to spend forever with John.

Happy 2 years sweetie, even though you don't read this, I wanted to look back at all the good times.

Friday, April 11, 2014

I'm so happy that warm weather is finally here. This past winter I couldn't wait for the warm weather to arrive. I kept reading about people going on cruises. I got a little jealous. They were escaping this cold weather. As I sat and daydreamed about how fun a cruise must be, I might have, possibly, just a little complained to John how I really wanted to go on one.

So as I was daydreaming of going on a cruise, he must have actually listened. Remember the Valentine's day gift we were waiting to exchange until we saw each other?! Well my gift was a cruise. Talk about one excited girl. We haven't set it quite yet, but it will be late summer/early fall when we go. We will most likely be going to the Bahamas.

No longer will this chick be dreaming of going on a cruise. I can actually start planning it!

Thursday, April 10, 2014

One thing I've gotten into within the last year has been wearing colognes. I love to add a little spice to my complete outfit with a nice fragrance. To me it helps my mood, or convey my feelings. I've actually built up my collection quite a bit.

Fun fact: cologne and perfume are very similar in nature the difference is how many essential oils/aroma compounds are in each. Perfumes have a much higher content of aromas making them last longer and also be more expensive.

When I go to put on a cologne for the day I often smell two or three before actually deciding on one. Maybe I'm indecisive for having to smell almost all of them before deciding but I can never actually put into words what they smell like. So it's usually difficult for me to pick one.

Anyway I was reading an article in Allure about colognes and perfumes. After reading this article from Frederic Malle, I realized I might be normal for not putting words to the scents. He says that trying to describe a fragrance in words doesn't do it justice. It is much better to describe a cologne or perfume in a mix of colors.

Subconsciously I think I did this. After reading this article I went through my cologne tray and smelled each and labeled them colors. I realized that my outfits match the colors I feel like the scent generates for me.

Double Infinity Revenge is one of those dark fragrances to me. It is black and grey with a bit of blue, but it is much darker blue than Cool Water.

Another cologne with a strong color for me is Giorgio. Now mine is not the original Giorgio and to be honest I've had it so long I don't even know where I got it from. But it is a mix of red, orange and yellow. I love this cologne so much and I'm going to be so sad if I run out and can't find it anymore.